morning. It's a beautiful day at the vatican. And george is there for it all. It certainly is. The sun shining out here right now. I'm here with our colleague, david wright. I flew over with cardinal dolan of new york. A lot of talk about the possility he might be chosen as the next pope. He laughed that off. But the cardinals are going to start to meet next week. Today, though, the day for pope benedict. His moment to say good-bye, really. This was the last time we will see him in the flesh, here at the vatican. Tomorrow, we'll see him on television. But most of it will take place behind the vatican walls. 50,000 tickets for this event, standing room only crowd. And for a pope who is famously reserved, it counts as an emotional farewell. They came today by the thousands to say good-bye. Pope benedict gave them an up-close look, moving through the croin the pope mobile. He even stopped to kiss a baby. The first pope since the middle ages to step down, smili today, as he took it all in one last time. The crowd got to their feet and gave him a long standing ovation. Today, he looked thin and frail as he addressed the faithful, referring back to the day eight years ago when he first appeared on that balcony. In that moment, he said, I felt like st. Peter with the apostles in the boat on lake galilee. Referring to the gospel scene right over the entrance of st. Peter's basilica. At times, the seas were calm. At times, the winds were blowing against us. An apparent reference to the scandals that have sometimes challenged his papacy. Today was one of the last times he'll wear those red prada dumps. After tomorrow, he switches to brown shoes. The man they once called god's rottweiler, as others have put it, now, a faithful sherman shepherd. There was so many requests for tickets, there was standing room only. We had tickets for the private showing. Didn't know it was going to be this big. Reporter: Instead, they're witnessing history. Also in the crowd, the man who will end up taking benedict's place. Probably someone from the front rows, wearing red. But even he doesn'ow it yet. That's the big mystery here. 117 cardinals are under age 80. And therefore eligible to vote. One has bowed out because of illness. Another because of scandal. 115 cardinals will choose the next pope. And it's likely, the new pope will be among one of them.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

{"id":18605729,"title":"Pope Benedict XVI's Final Public Address","duration":"2:41","description":"The pope holds his final audience before stepping down from the papacy.","url":"/GMA/video/pope-benedict-xvis-final-public-address-benedict-xvis-18605729","section":"GMA","mediaType":"Default"}